Poetry Paper
write a thesis-driven paper (meaning you have to have a clear opinion that you are arguing for). Minimum length is 3 FULL pages (i.e., all the way down to the bottom of the third page, not two pages with a couple of sentences at the top of the third page), but the paper may (and probably should) be longer than that. Secondary sources are not required, but may be helpful, and you have to attach a Works Cited page if you do use sources, and make it very clear in the body of the paper which ideas are or are not your own; other people’s exact words must always appear in quotation marks. Papers must be typed and double-spaced. Grammar counts! Poor grammar will lower your grade, and good grammar will raise it.
Pick a few (3 or more) poems by the same poet and try to analyze her or his work as a whole. What was he or she concerned with saying? Who is the intended audience? Where does this poet’s work fit into the larger culture? If the poet is from long enough ago that her or his work might have influenced society or other art in some way, then in what ways did it do so?
